Beth Greenslade's Blog, page 103
September 19, 2017
Writing Challenges To Keep You Writing
All writers need some extra motivation from time to time, and while we may try our best to stick to our carefully planned out writing schedules, it is easy to fall off the wagon. Finding time to write can be tricky. Many of us have other jobs and busy family lives to attend to and being able to sit down for a proper productive writing session is something many writers consider to be a luxury.
However, by continuing to challenge yourself as a writer, you can stay motivated, keep learning and keep those creative cogs turning as well. Honing your creative skills, being more disciplined and striving to improve is key to any writer’s success.
So here are some creative writing challenges to try - ones which might help fire up your imagination and make you more determined to prioritise your writing over anything else.
National novel writing month
National novel writing month is a fantastic challenge where writers are asked to write a 50,000-word novel in just one month. To some, it might sound like a massive challenge but if you have the time and motivation to achieve it, just think how proud of yourself you’ll be!
Short story writing with a writing buddy
Find a writing buddy and promise each other you’ll complete one short story a week which you can then send to each other and critique. This will help you refine the art of storytelling, and because another person is involved, you are more likely to stick to your deadlines too. This can work by writing a chapter of your novel a week too if that’s what you would prefer to concentrate on.
A daily challenge
Try beginning the week by coming up with seven short story ideas. Then, each day, try to flesh one out. You don’t have to write loads, but try to complete a story a day. Creating an entire story regularly and challenging yourself to come up with fresh ideas each week is a good way of keeping you creative as well as writing all the time.
Style mimicking
Mimicking the style of another author can be an interesting way to challenge your versatility as a writer and help you find your unique voice. Make a list of topics or story ideas and then write a piece of fiction using another authors style. Or once you have finished a book by them, write another chapter to tag onto the end. To be even more inventive, try writing about a topic that the author would never usually write about themselves, i.e. a romance in the style of Stephen King and so on.
Emotion pieces
Try writing short pieces designed to evoke a very particular emotion from your reader. This will help you hone in on what it takes to connect with a reader and make them react emotionally. Some examples could be:
Make your reader laugh
Make your reader cry
Make your reader angry
Make your reader scared
Give them a go, and you’ll soon start to get a sense of what it takes to bring about an emotional impact.
Keeping your mind busy, experimenting with new styles and ideas and making sure you don’t get writing fatigue is so important to ensure you keep writing and stay motivated. So if you are able why not try the above challenges to see how they work for you? Let us know what great writing challenges you have taken part in too!
Bethany Cadman -author of 'Doctor Vanilla's Sunflowers'
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September 18, 2017
THE GREATEST FEAR of MANKIND `THE UNKNOWN`
Here is a little sneak peek into my new book, Generation Reboot. Enjoy a short wake up call on your personal Happiness...
Stephanie
THE GREATEST FEAR of MANKIND
`THE UNKNOWN`
Since the beginning of time, humans have tried very hard not to stick out from the crowd. Instead, we tend to follow the rules of our environment, so we will not embarrass our family, our friends, and all of the people we care about.
Then we get older, and at the end of our physical life, we will remember all of the missed opportunities and chances and start to wonder and regret.
INSTEAD OF TAKING A STEP FORWARD, FACING SOME CRITICISM BUT BEING HAPPY, WE RATHER PLAY SAFE AND STAY MISERABLE.
Regardless of what the environment says and expects, at the end of the day, it is your personal decision to make. You can either change the situation with which you are unhappy or accept it and make the best out of it. Understand that your happiness is in your own hands! Every single one of us is capable and able, to change everything in every moment of our life if we are no longer satisfied with it.
WHAT IT NEEDS, THOUGH, IS COURAGE & RESPONSIBILITY!
We have to realize that it is okay to be different and we do NOT need permission from other people to live and enjoy our life the way we want it.
Resistance, denial, and unwillingness to listen to our gut, will definitely make us sick. The funny thing is, we always know deep inside of us that something needs to change -
W E A R E J UST V E R Y G O O D A T I G N O R I N G A N D R E J E C T I N G IT.
Why do people ignore this inner knowing? Well, there is one thing that humanity fears more than anything, and we would rather stay in something unhappy than facing this fear, which is — T H E U N K N O W N.
Change means that you might pass through something new that you have never experienced before. This unknown feeling gives us so much anxiety that most of the people would rather be stuck somewhere than step outside their comfort zone. Can we all please stop being a victim of our fear and instead try to take more responsibility for our own happiness?!
If we invested all the energy that we are wasting in blaming others and the whole world for our bad circumstances, we could create the life we want in no time. I agree that sometimes we are powerless to change our circumstances, but hand to heart, most of the time we are finding excuses over excuses for all kind of circumstances which we are afraid of changing.
STOP KIDDING YOURSELF AND TAKE SOME RESPONSIBILITY!
YOU CAN CHANGE IT, NOW!
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How to Write a Good Mommy Blog
Mommy blogs are a polarizing force. You either love them or wouldn’t touch one with a 10-foot pole. The nature of them and the subjects they tend to cover makes them contentious. They started as a way for moms to support each other, share parenting wisdom. But then the internet took over.
Finding a good, mostly objection less mommy blog is hard. But, if you’re brave…
Be Conscientious
Once you say something on the internet, you can’t get rid of it. You will be judged for it. Think before you write, process and reprocess your thoughts and ideas. How do you sound? How do you come across? Although parenting is an emotional, personal issue, think logically. Will your child, or other potentially offended parties, resent you for sharing that, you know, that?
Be Less Self-Centered
Every mom and child are different, but they all have similar struggles and successes that aren’t all that different; don’t be that Mom. Your potential fellow mom readers have all had or will have all the problems they’re experiencing. They just don’t write a blog about them. Acknowledge this, be humble.
Did Grace go poop, but not in the potty? Lots of kids do that. Bond over shared struggle. Don’t be shocked that you’re experiencing parenting struggles.
Be Open Minded
Being self-righteous, preachy, and dogmatically is wrong in any situation. Especially on the internet. There will always be someone who knows more and who is better than you. You are not the final authority, most supreme influence on any topic, no one is.
Express your struggles, explain how you got through something and conquered the obstacle. But, know there’s not just one-way to do it. There is no universal parenting theory. But, plenty of opinions.
When you start dishing out advice and tips, be able to take advice and tips. Interact with your readers and audience. Learn from others, and acknowledge them. Don’t say “well this is my kid and I’m the mom, so you’re wrong.” Yes, you are the mom, but are you ever right 100% of the time?
Be Honest
Anyone who has young children, or whoever was a young child, knows that your picture perfect family, with an immaculate, always stylish house is a lie. Don’t lie to your readers.
Don’t put on a mask, a false image just to look good. It’s a bad example for your children. Acknowledge your imperfections, be vulnerable. It’s why mommy blogs started in the first place, for moms to share and bond while helping each other.
Be especially honest about your kids. They aren’t perfect; they act up. Don’t just acknowledge good moments. Falsely building them up, basically worshipping them, seems innocent and encouraging, but it’s detrimental to their psychological health, and future very beleaguered boss.
Be Diverse, Different
What makes you stand, out, why are you special? Find your niche. Expand on it, have a good variety of helpful, informative content. Why did Gracie not go poop in the potty, where did she, how did you clean it up? How did you get her to go in the potty afterward?
All of these are helpful, informative topics. Also, consider other topics outside of children. Like relationships with significant others after children, how you manage a household budget.
There are many secondary yet related topics to consider. That parent and even non-parents can connect to.
Also consider what goes into running a mommy blog, and how it’s funded. There’s corporate sponsors, brand partnerships, product reviews, and ads that require hours of work; hours that could be spent with your children.
Speaking of children, think about your kids. Will they be willing, eager participants? Or worse, too eager and too willing? Wanting all that extra attention and praise is a sign, a horrible sign. On the other hand, not wanting to go to a sponsored brunch is pretty normal.
Did you survive the terrible twos and threes? Do your research, really think about it? Then Congratulations, you are mommy blogger material! With a little often looked over work, and these tips, you are well on your way to blogging success!
Originally Published in Deliberate Magazine
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The Writing Research Rabbit Hole
Most writers love to know things, collecting odd fragments of information to craft into a telling scene, or to spark creativity. From old recipes, newspapers, dusty books and odd google searches, a number of random snippets can overwhelm any writer. For a writer of historical, fantasy or science-based work, the sheer joy of research and world building can also take up all your writing time. Planning and organisation are key elements if you are ever to escape the rabbit hole of research and actually write something.
Planning your research
I did a lot of research for my time travel romance set in Roman Britain, so I hope some of these tips will help others starting down the track of a historically based novel.
Do you have a timeframe in mind? An era or person? If you are unsure where to start, get a world history book that describes what was going on around the world through time. Some good ones include ‘World History’ by Rodney Castleton or the ‘Larousse Encyclopaedia of Ancient and Mediaeval History’. Your library reference section should have a few of these types of books. So read until you find a time and place that appeal to you.
Already have a time and place? Note down a couple of significant events that happened, so you can shift your timeline a little. Now, go back to the library and check out the children’s reference section. This may sound odd, but kids’ history books are a treasure trove of pictures and simple overviews. At this stage, you are looking broad brush, not fine details. Programmes on TV such as Horrible Histories also offer fun odd facts that may be the turning point of authenticity for your book. There are some children’s books that offer a day in the life of people in ancient times, and this can be a fun and fast way to add colour and develop a character.
For science fiction, the children’s section is also excellent for basic astronomy, space travel and related topics such as atmosphere, geology, biology and chemistry that can be used in world building.
The next part of the world is set. I found some excellent resources in walking guides which are published by historical groups. Another good source is the internet, look up facebook groups that specialise in photography of the area and join in. For science fiction, the setting will naturally depend on if it is in space, a planet and how Earthlike it is, for instance. A read of the ‘Encyclopaedia of Science Fiction’ will give you a few leads on what other authors have done. In my sci-fi novel (unpublished as yet) I researched topics such as terraforming, planetary classifications, biology, mutations, radiation and deep sea vents, to name a few. Twitter and Facebook are excellent ways to find and follow researchers in the fields you need, from astronomers to archaeologists.
Stop Researching
Ok. You need to stop now, step away from the internet and shut the books. Go for a walk and have a think about your book. No more research until you have a plot, some characters, conflict and action. For the love of research leads naturally to the building of worlds, and many writers can live in this limbo of researching every single detail and never actually writing. Or worse, building a detailed world and history and not have an actual story or even characters. All of this is enjoyable, but not productive. It’s not getting your book out there. You must draw a line in the sand and say ‘no more research, I have a book to write!’
Some aspects of your characters may need mid writing research, and this can be a good way to give you a change of pace. Small details such as technology (fire lighting methods for instance), clothing, furniture, food (what was available/exotic/expensive or cheap at the time), shoes, hairstyles and modes of transport can all add interest and authenticity. Equally, the away team reporting on geological formations on the planet can be quite technical, if kept short. However, avoid the info dump trap. Just because you know it, doesn’t mean the reader needs to know all the details. Try reading Jules Verne to see a good example of heavy-handed detail. Great stories can be made very dull with lengthy and unnecessarily detailed descriptions.
Organising research
Organisation is important as a way of keeping tabs on all the details. Of course, no matter how you do it you will still end up at 3 am searching through 3,000 post-it notes to find the comment about Roman sandals. However, there are some things you can do to make it easier.
Tabbed notebooks are good ways to sketch things from museums and jot down notes. Steer clear of post-it notes unless you can stick them in a section on related items. For internet searches, make good use of the bookmark function, and subdivide categories into different folders. If you are writing up notes in Word, then make files for separate topics, or if in one file, organise it with headings, and use the navigation pane (view – tick navigation pane box) to move around the document. Make sure you record the references you used in case you need to cite them or recheck in the future. Make full use of copy and paste to add web page links into your document. If you are a visual person, perhaps a site such as Instagram or Pinterest may help in collating pictures.
One software tool for writers is Scrivener. I have used it and wasn’t that keen, however, for researchers, it offers the opportunity to keep all your links, pictures and files in the one place. They offer a free month trial, and it’s not that expensive, so it is well worth seeing if it suits you.
So I trust that some of these tips prove to be of use. I hope they help move you out of the endless research rabbit hole and into the sunny writing fields, where we can all enjoy the new world you have created from old facts.
Author Bio
Cindy Tomamichel is a writer of action-adventure romance novels. The heroines don’t wait to be rescued, and the heroes earn that title the hard way.
She has poetry and short stories in the recent anthologies of Rhetoric Askew. More of her published work is on her website.
Her book - Druid's Portal – is on Amazon, and out in paperback Sept 30th. It is a time travel romance, set in Roman Britain around Hadrian's Wall. Action and adventure with plenty of fighting, ancient goddesses and druids. It's not your typical romance, but it will set your heart racing!
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A Writer’s Fanfare
Open book
In the nineteen fifties, my interest was captured by the Nancy Drew series by Carolyn Keene. Each holiday I would request the latest Nancy Drew title and on receiving it I would curl-up in an over-sized chair and begin reading the fast-paced adventure.
Whereby, I dabbled at creating my own mystery stories at an early age. My first effort detailed a long, frightening chase by a sinister man. A dark tunnel appeared, leading to (of course) a haunted mansion. The not-so-brilliant ending had me saved by the man of my life at the time – my father.
My parents and teachers would often tell me, “Patty, you are a dreamer. You have a vivid imagination. Put it to good use.” It was at that point, in lieu of playing with friends or watching the new small-box-wonder – TV, I sat at an old desk in the kitchen and wrote mystery stories. I also drew stick figures to illustrate the action in the stories. The discovery of boys replaced pen and paper. The telephone became my favorite instrument and I lost interest in reading and writing until a formidable nun taught me English in High School. With a revival of interest, I picked up where I left off, writing saleable poetry and a variety of articles, essays, and short stories. Presently, I am taking a writing course and penning novels.
Ironically, my mainstream stories have brought me the most success and recognition. I have often wondered, why? I have discovered that although I like to create a good mystery story, I shy from describing extreme violence or gratuitous sex and the uncanny evil bred in psychological serial killers who torture, maim and murder their victims. I prefer to write cozy mystery stories.
Two favorite characters I have created for general entertainment are Gert Carver and Nina Westacott. Friends for many years, the two women pursue bottle mining and flea market quests. I was fortunate to have a close relationship with two aunts. The idea came to mind to express how their uniqueness affected me as a child. I wished to pass the essence of their warm and zany personalities on to others and I fictionalized them.
*
In writing mystery stories, I am determined to have justice served. My recent sojourn to the Rensselaer County Courthouse for jury selection impressed me that perpetrators have more rights than victims. It confirmed what I already knew; people are victimized once during the actual crime and once during the detailing of the sordid events leading to the crime at the trial. Can anyone blame a person who refuses to go through a debilitating trial? Hence, the perpetrator gets away with a plea bargain or less and walks away a free man. Often, he/she commits a similar crime. I would like to shadow dedicated professionals and put into writing the need for more honesty and integrity in the justice system.
Ideas for a writer’s fanfare are everywhere. Newspapers are a good source for material; just study the headlines. What if …?
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7 Ways in 7 Days: Unlock Your Creativity Interactive Guide
Blooming Prejippie Zine shows you how to overcome writer's block one day at a time.
We spent last summer trying to find out how to be constantly more creative. What we found out was that creativity is not so much mysticism, but strategy. Creative individuals, like choreographer Twyla Tharp, says in her book, The Creative Habit, that one must prepare to be creative (9). One artist after another has echoed similar thoughts on the matter, when asked how they keep the brilliance coming. This has led us to create this guide of what resounded most with us. We wanted to share what we have learned with you.
Here’s how this resource works:
Focus on one area followed by one action item a day for 7 days.
Allow enough time to consider each area—the full day, if need be—before moving on to the next item.
Don’t be tempted to skip any of these steps, since adherence them will help nourish your creativity.
Day One: Find a routine
Think about how you have worked best in the past. Was it in your special comfy chair in the corner? Or perhaps it was at your local neighborhood Starbuck’s; where the Wi-Fi is free and there’s gourmet coffee at your beck and call? Are there certain types of pencils that seem to make drawing more enjoyable? Are you a morning or evening person? Take that into consideration as your setting up your time and place for creating.
Day One Action Item: Try a variety of environments and instruments to see which ones are for you. Fill in the blanks below:
My most creative place is _________________________ . The time of day when I am most creative is __________________. My favorite creative tools are ____________________.
Day Two: Set goals
No matter your creative task is—whether it is writing a novel, designing a new dress, or creating album cover graphics—you will need to decide on your goal(s) for that project. You can either consider long- or short-term goals. Are you giving yourself a year, a month, or a day to complete it? How much do you want to get done? One chapter? One song?
Being mindful of your goal will help you realistically chunk out your available time. This is where some type of calendar (or planner)—digital or analog—is helpful. There’s something about making the time you designate a priority that helps assure you will work on it. (We suggest choosing a daily goal, as it makes everything more manageable and gets you in the routine of creating.)
Day Two Action Item: Take a day to decide on a project that you want to goal-set for. Now, flll-in the blanks below:
The project that I want to work on is _____________________________. My goal for this is _________________________. The date I would like to complete this goal is ____________________. I will spend approximately _______________________ (amount of time) per day week month (circle one) working on this goal.
Day Three: Take a break
We know it sounds counter-intuitive, but sometimes the best way to work through a problem—even a creative one—is to go off and NOT think about it. Our minds are funny that way and oftentimes, while you are in the middle of taking a break, you will receive just the right creative solution. In fact, it was during a power-nap that I solved a recent dilemma about what to share with you, our creative brotherhood. When you’re seriously stuck and can’t move forward, we definitely recommend a day of NOT thinking about it to solve your problem.
Day Three Action Item: Even if you are at the very beginning of an ambitious undertaking—as you may be now—taking a break—after goal setting—leaves room for your muse to strike. Consider that break-in-the-action today and fill in the blanks:
I am taking a break from my project to ________________________________________.
Day Four: “Consume” More
While you are taking one of your breaks, instead of napping, you may want to take in some experiences, so as to feed your muse. This is what I believe I remember Sting calling your time of “consumption,” where you view other artists’ work. Go read, travel, listen to motivational talks, go to art galleries, and browse other peoples’ blogs. I suggest doing your tried-and-true entertainment (scrolling on the internet, very likely) along with some new and totally out of the ordinary things for you—I took a dance class, which I haven’t done since high school. By taking in new stimuli, you might spark something creative in you. Even if you don’t receive your aha moment after having come/seen/felt, in the least, you are enriched. Its maximum potential, though, is to provide you with that missing piece to bolster your own project.
Day Four Action Item: What will you consume? Will you go to an opera? Will you check out a new album from a musical group that you have been curious about? Will you go see a foreign film? What will be that entertainment that you take in while you subconscious is working it all out? Ponder that and then fill in the blanks below:
The familiar activity that I plan to do while I search for inspiration is _____________________________. The out-of-the-box activity that I plan to do is to ______________________.
Day Five: Collaborate
My husband and I are pretty solitary people, so if you are like us, the idea of collaborating is freaking you out. No worries. Collaboration is nothing so formal as to present your ideas to some group of folks and asking for input. (--It could be that, if that is what you like to do.) However, collaboration at its more basic form is taking an idea or a suggestion that someone gives you and incorporating it into what you were already doing. Oftentimes, they won’t even realize that you were helped by something they said or did or do. (And, in a sense, that consuming that you did yesterday may become a collaboration, if you receive any inspiration from your experiences that you infuse in your work.) Again, it does not have to be formal. However, if you let folks know what you are working on, you may receive an invitation to a formal collaboration, where your work joins in some way or another. Sometimes, it is a collaboration that helps complete that piece you’ve been stuck on.
Day Five Action Item: Think about natural collaborations in your life. Do you know that person who is really good at drawing and you know you need a kick-ass logo for your project? Or is there a person who is very detail-oriented, who wouldn’t mind taking a look at your giveaway materials? That might make sure that you don’t miss any important legal and logistical info, but they also may have suggestions about how to make it better—aha! A collaboration! Give this some thought, because by allowing someone else to contribute—either passively or aggressively—will help enhance your creative output. Fill in the blanks below:
The person I will approach about collaboration is __________________________________. Or the project that has influenced me in this project is _______________________________.
Day Six: Resist Quitting
When it comes to honoring our creative goals and to pushing that baby out, the best strategy is to NOT quit. If you have planned time to work on your project, even if you are not inspired enough to use the entire chunk of time, at least do SOMETHING! For instance, if you had planned to spend 2 hours writing that killer blog post, but can’t seem to focus for more than 15 minutes, get SOMETHING written; even if it is just the title and a rough outline. In the end, it is those bits of something that you can turn into something later. At least you have dropped the seed for future creation. If you will do this, you will find your creative self will thank you with a fine list of bloggable topics and plans that you can draw from. So, even when I am not inspired to do what I had said I would do, I still try to get something done toward my goal. To me, at least, I’m inching forward and not stagnated.
Day Six Action Item: Will you commit to doing SOMETHING on your project every day you have planned to do so? ___________________
Day Seven: Stick to it
According to the motivation videos, the folks who are successful are the ones who keep at it even when many others have quit, even when many others have told them to quit. So, on this final day of this interactive guide, if I can leave you with anything in relationship to letting your creativity flow is to keep at it. Keep at it through writer’s block, through good times and in lean times, through encouragement and discouragement. If you are truly the creative that you say you are—or want to be—you will be known not for complaining, nor for making excuses, but for creating. Whatever it is that you dream about doing, you will be creating that. Whatever THAT is. There is one thing that you will be known for and it will be creating ______.
Day Seven Action Item: If you are consistently working in your craft, you will see good things happen. Now, it is time for you to commit. Think carefully about the following question and fill in your answer:
I am known for ________________________. I vow that no matter what, I will not quit honing my craft and that I will keep creating.
If you were loyal in following all seven days of strategies and filling in those action items, we believe and declare that you will light that creative fuse in your life.
We know that this is not every strategy that one could use to spark creativity, but that’s where you come in. Share your advice on how to unlock the creative beast. What has worked for you?
We hope this 7 Ways in 7 Days: Unlock Your Creativity Interactive Guide has been an enriching experience for you. Since our goal is to always seek inspiration to create, we will be launching our 31-Day Writing Challenge soon. If you would like to be the first to receive this new tool for summoning (and flexing) that writing muscle, click here http://eepurl.com/c0CGXH
**Resources:
Lindsey, Carrie. Make Anything Happen: A Creative Guide to Vision Boards, Goal Setting, and Achieving the Life of Your Dreams. New York: Skyhorse Publishing, 2018.
Tharp, Twyla, and Mark Reiter. The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life : a Practical Guide. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2003. Print.
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22 Romance Publishers Seeking Unsolicited Manuscripts
If there is one thing I’ve learned a lot about in the past two years, it’s who publishes romance novels. I’ve been through the submissions process three times so far. One of my books sold to a small press after participating in a Twitter pitchfest called #Pit2Pub. Prior to that, I had gone the traditional route. I wrote a query letter, synopsis and read each romance publisher’s guidelines before sending off my hopes and dreams.
The cool thing about romance is that there are many publishers that will consider a manuscript without an agent. Before submitting, I recommend reading about each publisher on the Absolute Write forum. This is especially important for small presses that you may not have heard of. This will help you avoid some of the scam publishers out there. Drumroll, please...
Here’s my list of 22 Romance Publishers Seeking Unsolicited Manuscripts
Some of these publishers offer a print and e-book version of your book as part of the contract but some of these presses are strictly digital only. If holding a paperback in your hand is part of your dream, make sure to seek out the publishers that will offer that as part of the deal.
Harlequin
The only way into Harlequin without an agent is to submit a “category romance”. They are the short paperbacks found on grocery store racks. Don’t let the short length fool you, their requirements are very specific for each line and it’s wildly competitive. Their wait time to hear back about a submission can be six months or longer. They have contests like So You Think You Can Write that might be another good way in. Note: their other lines for longer novels require an agent.
Avon Impulse
This is an ebook imprint, there are other Avon books that require an agent. From their website: “What we’re looking for now: Big, high-concept historical and contemporary romances.” It’s my understanding that they only respond if interested, otherwise there will be no reply or confirmation.
Entangled
They have several romance lines with different length, heat and character requirements. I’ve noticed they usually have editors participating in some of the Twitter pitch contests.
Carina Press
Carina is an ebook offshoot of Harlequin. They offer some articles with tips about what makes a good submission that is worth a read. Some of their editors also show up in Twitter contests. They accept a variety of romance genres and are interested in what they deem “contemporary crack”. Note: you are not supposed to submit to Harlequin category and Carina at the same time. Wait for a rejection with one before submitting to the other.
Lyrical Press, imprint of Kensington
From their website: “We are looking for fresh stories in a variety of categories including all romance genres (specifically suspense and historicals with unique settings), compelling psychological suspense fiction, thrillers, women’s fiction, new adult, and cozy mysteries.”
Loveswept and Flirt
This is a digital-only branch of Random House. From their website: “We invite queries for submissions in contemporary romance, erotica, historical romance, paranormal romance, women’s fiction, and new adult.”
Forever Yours
They are a digital romance imprint of Hachette. From their website: “Forever Yours is currently accepting romance submissions from all subgenres, including but not limited to: contemporary romance, New Adult, category romance stories, romantic suspense, western, historical, inspirational, paranormal, time-travel, and erotica.”
Swerve
St. Martin’s Press joined the club as another big publisher with a digital-only romance imprint called Swerve. From their website: “We are looking for dynamic and diverse voices, compelling stories, and authors who are ready to build their brand.”
Bookouture (UK)
They are a digital imprint that accepts romance, women’s fiction, thrillers and other genres. I love their covers. From their website: “We’re looking for entertaining, emotional stories for smart, modern women. Books that effortlessly transport readers to another world and keep them turning the pages.”
Endeavor Press (UK)
Here’s another digital imprint accepting submissions in the UK. From their website: “Endeavour Press is looking for works of at least 25,000 words in length, as well as full length books, both fiction and nonfiction, in the following genres: Crime Fiction and Thrillers, History and Historical Fiction, Romance and popular Women's Fiction.”
Harper Impulse (UK)
Unlike some of the other publishers on this list, HI takes romance but several other genres as well. Women’s fiction, thrillers, suspense and literary novels are also welcome.
Boroughs Publishing
They publish in a variety of subgenres of romance and accept a range of word counts. From their website: “We’re seeking submissions from writers who can deliver the emotional punch readers crave. Space cowboys, gargoyles, the hunk next-door and crusty cops welcome.”
Limitless Publishing
This is the publisher that offered me my first book contract for Dating Maggie. They accept all kinds of subgenres and heat levels. They produce an ebook as well as a paperback and their cover designs pack a punch.
The Wild Rose Press
In the past, I received a revise and resubmit from TWRP and the editorial notes were extremely helpful. They also provide an ebook and paperback. From their website: “We accept queries including but not limited to women's fiction, mystery or thriller, historical fiction and erotica.”
Beachwalk Press
Beachwalk is a digital-only press looking for high heat romances under 75k. Though their website says they print a few high-demand titles.
Hot Tree Publishing
I first heard about this relatively new publisher from a writer friend of mine. From their website: “Hot Tree Publishing is open for submissions of all sub-genres of adult and new adult romance. Submissions must be no less than 50,000 words and no more than 125,000 words.”
Crimson Romance
From Crimson’s website: “Our digital-first romance line is open to submissions in five popular subgenres: romantic suspense, contemporary, paranormal, historical, and spicy romance. We’re looking for previously unpublished full-length novels (between 50,000 – 90,000 words) and novellas (between 30,000 – 50,000 words).”
Polis Books
This publisher accepts a variety of genres in addition to romance. The minimum word count is 60K and they don’t respond unless they are interested.
Clean Reads
They seem to be looking for sweet/clean romance. From their website: “we do not accept books with language or euphemisms. We also do not accept open door sex scenes or gratuitous sex.”
Soul Mate Publishing
They accept many subgenres of romance and claim to reply within four weeks. From their site: “We are actively seeking authors who can tell an exciting story and aren’t afraid to venture into new territory.”
Jack’s House Publishing
This is a newer publisher started by successful romance author, Marie Force. They are only interested in contemporary romance and it’s great that they have a sample contract up on their website, so you know what you’re in for.
Amazon Scout Program
While Amazon’s imprints require agented submissions, the scout program is a digital publishing program open to anyone. The caveat is that you are encouraged to promote your book to friends to be “voted” for as part of the selection process. It’s unclear how much that impacts the books they choose to publish. They accept romance and some other genres as well.
I hope you found my list helpful. I’m sending you good publishing luck mojo! And the amazing news is, if you don’t find the right place for your book, you can self-publish it as many successful romance authors have. I’m looking at you, Bella Andre. Truth be told, the co-founders of Pen & Parent also self-published The Proposition, a steamy billionaire romance. So there are lots of ways for a book to make its way to readers.
Do you have experience in the submission trenches with your romance novel? We’d love to hear about it. Leave a comment or send us a guest post about your journey for our blog.
If you need some tips on how to write, check out these Must-Have Books for Writers. Or if romance writing isn't your thing there are 18 Parenting Magazines that Pay Freelance Writers.
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September 17, 2017
How To Get Out Of A Writing Slump
Let’s face it we’re not perfect, nor are we writing machines. There are days where we sit down to do some writing and think ‘no. Not today,’ and then crawl back to our bed, or stretch out on the sofa and binge watch Netflix feeling horribly guilty about it all the while.
Writing slumps happen to all of us. Whether we start finding excuses not to write, or keep trying but simply can’t find the words we want to come out. Or we can write, but every time we look back on our work we think ‘urgh, what on earth was I thinking?’
It’s hard to keep motivated to write, particularly when most of us have other jobs and busy lives to attend to as well. It’s tough to keep coming up with fresh ideas and writing our very best all the time, and it’s basically impossible not to hate our writing from time to time and wonder what kind of mad fools we have become!
The good news is that while it may be impossible never to have a writing slump again, it is possible to make it that much easier to get over them, to re-focus and start writing again feeling motivated and inspired, refreshed and renewed.
So how do you do it?
Don’t burn yourself out
If you find yourself writing all day and all night, that you lock yourself away from family and friends and get so into your book it's all you can think or talk about, you are likely to burn yourself out, run out of steam and suddenly hit a massive brick wall. Slow and steady wins the race, so keep writing little and often and you’ll find you always have the energy and focus to do a bit more.
Stop when you can do more
Don’t write until you run out of things to say, stop when you still feel as though you are on a roll. That way when you next come back to your writing you’ll be able to pick up right where you left off, rather than spending the first hour desperately trying to think of where to take your book next.
Take breaks and holiday days
Writing is work. Sometimes we love it, and sometimes we hate it, but it’s work all the same. Whether you do it full time, whether you get paid for it or not, it’s still a job, and you need to take proper breaks to be at your most effective. Take regular breaks away from your computer screen, and give yourself ‘days off’ where you don’t need to think about your writing or do any either.
Don’t leave it too long between writing sessions
Make sure you write regularly. Setting up a realistic writing schedule is a good idea. If you only attend to your book once a month, it’s going to be hard to stay excited and passionate about it. So keep writing often, and this will keep your momentum going.
Free write first
Start each writing session with ten minutes of free writing, where you write whatever comes into your head. This way you can ‘brain dump’ all the weird and wonderful things you’ve been carrying with you and start your ‘proper’ writing feeling focused and with a clear head.
Don’t look back until you are done
Some writers refuse to read back what they have written until they are finished the entire story. This takes some discipline but can be helpful if you know you are likely to be particularly critical of yourself.
Stay healthy
Sleep, eat well, exercise and socialise with people in the outside world. If you end up sleep deprived, stressed, and surviving on instant noodles for months on end it’s no wonder that you are going to start resenting your writing and feeling like you don’t want to do it anymore. Remember to look after yourself, stay positive and stop when you need to. Otherwise, you’ll end up doing far more damage to your writing (and yourself) than you need to.
By following the above tips, you can cut those writing slumps short, and make sure that you never stay down for too long. It’s OK not to feel great about your writing all the time, but don’t let those negative thoughts take over, pull yourself back up and just get on with it!
Bethany Cadman -author of 'Doctor Vanilla's Sunflowers'
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September 16, 2017
Time and Money
Time has been one of the world’s renown tool or agent of either death or life. Construction or destruction. It would be acknowledged too that money is a cousin to time. An embodiment of time and money and money of all times, as the world’s greatest tools, which has either shaken or deformed lives is God himself.
Genesis gives a great account of God initiating the concept of time. The use of time is vast. Talking about night and day, weeks and months, and also talking about years. Money as a cousin to time has been in influence for ages and has equally achieved the same task as its cousin.
These two resources have changed lives either positively or negatively. An infinitive study into the creation of the earth and the heaven with respect to time, has been put in place by God Himself to relieve himself of the stress of creating day and night repeatedly, creating man repeatedly and creating all things repeatedly as well. The Lord God Almighty is a God of orderliness and plan, and the major secret to His success with respect to the creation are these tools. Time and Money – which are going to be handled independently and correlatively.
The book of Ecclesiastes 3: 1- 9, gives a clear indication of the areas in which time has its influence. Each of these aspects will be taken one after the other.
A TIME TO BE BORN.
God in His wisdom has made use of time to control the beginning of all things. What does it mean to be born? Birth signifies a new era. A new beginning. A new dawn. For instance, the birth of a baby into a family changes a lot of things in the family. A woman has a more affectionate approach to the arrival of a new born than a man. She is extremely careful in areas where the man wouldn’t even think of care. The number of hours of sleep is different from the moments before she gave birth. The husband or father of the child, can still gain a few hours of sleep extra, compared to the mother. He begins to get acquainted with babysitting, changing diapers, correctly determining the temperature of food for the child just to mention a few. It would be painful but true to make you realise that this analogy also works well for our ideas as humans in general. The human brain is pregnant of ideas, and innovations that need to be given birth. And there is a time frame for that to occur. Take a good look at plants; some thrive well in the winter, others summer and the likes. A child is just spurted out into the earth. It takes processes; sexual intercourse between a man and a woman. Not a boy and a girl. Fertilisation of the woman’s organs occur and an embryo is formed, which takes nine full month’s to become a reality.
Genesis 1 & 2, tells us in detail, of the very first steps our ingenious God took before He triggered the creation. “1: in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2: The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Take note of the phrase, “The earth was without form” and “There was darkness over the deep.” These are phrases that depict that there was a challenge to God’s plan – “creating the heaven and the earth.” After God detected the challenges that faced his plan, did He back? Did He see an impossibility? Did He turn back like most of us would do when we hit an obstacle? No. So “His Spirit hovered over the waters.” What steps have you taken over the challenges before you? You desire to be educated. Have you meditated about being educated? What options do you have before you? How can you overpower the challenges ahead with these options?
I want to believe that someone has been blessed by the message TODAY!!
Follow these series and let the Holy Spirit pull us further into the intrigues that coexist between time and money...stay tuned to this timeline God bless.
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You Need a Style Guide
Writing can be fun, is fun. Creating new interesting content is an adventure. But how do you go about it, what do you exactly create? What does it look like? Writing a style guide isn’t fun,, but it’s an unavoidable necessary evil. Here’s why you need to have one.
Guidelines
Rome wasn’t built in a day. Because Rome had to be planned, mapped out, how do you even build a city? Create your content in this way, set down rules, regulations. You can’t just wing it and expect to have no mistakes or incidents.
When writing you should have some freedom, but too much is, well, you’re not going to help someone start a fire if you explain it in a stream of consciousness manner.
Branding
Your brand, your image, needs to stay consistent, recognizable. If it’s not broke, don’t fix it. Don’t indulge the intern’s whim and make your colors rainbow because of it. It will confuse your audience, turn them off.
People don’t like change, it’s a proven fact. They are slow to warm up, adjust to it. Be consistent, have a theme, be recognizable, have standards.
Makes Writing Easier
If you tell someone writing anything? What are they supposed to write, or about? Besides just the word “anything”? A style guide makes writing easier, reigns in the creativity. It makes writing faster, more efficient. And greatly helps quality.
Makes Editing Easier
Editing isn’t easy per say, but it’s less subjective with a style guide. You did clearly say blah can’t do blah, so you have to cut it. Or blah has to, nothing personal. Everyone has to follow the rules, you’re just doing your job.
Evidence
Even the best writer or editor can slip up. Someone has to point out the flaws before the post is published, or else, meme city here you come. This keeps people accountable- and gives them a solid argument when people are getting away with things others aren’t.
Or are ignoring the standards. Have a standard and stick to it, being rigid is better than well if it’s Tuesday than Tim can spell the “Q423!” because, batman symbol, #q423?
Style guides aren’t that exciting, but they are an essential part of the content creation process. They are not to be overlooked. They are essential, even non-text based blogs and branding need them. Why? Because everyone needs to play by the rules. And someone needs to make some.
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